TRAGEDY | Shouyou Hinata (Murder of Crows) ✓

CHAPTER TEN

A/N: I'm sorry - this chapter is super rushed but I just wanted to update since it's been ages since the last one. I really want to try and finish my current stories so that I can work on some new ones but I barely have time to write anymore. Hopefully during Christmas break I'll get the last few chapters written, but we'll see >.<

You saw the curtain flinch as you walked up the driveway to Hinata's house, the brown material still caught in motion as the person behind it quickly withdrew. You glimpsed a smudge of dark eyes before it hung still and empty, like a blank portrait.

He was waiting for you in the kitchen when his mother led you through, before leaving, wordlessly, to let you settle the situation between yourselves. You wondered if Hinata had confided in her at all about your argument, but it was unlikely. Sometimes I feel like I barely even know him anymore. That's what she had said to you. And you had reassured her that he was still her son, he was still Shouyou, but some days you found it difficult to believe that yourself.

He was staring down at the ground, at his two socked feet planted firmly on the carpet, unmoving, silent.

"Are we going to talk about this?"

Hinata sniffed. "Talk about what?"

"Whatever's going on with you, why you're being so cold to your friends," you said bluntly, talking quickly so that he couldn't interrupt. "I know you're still grieving. I know it's hard, after everything you've been through, but we need to stick together during times like these, not push each other away."

Hinata's curled his fists by his sides, his feet spreading to keep him braced against the floor. "I'm not pushing them away on purpose. I'm just trying to protect you! I can't lose you like I did Natsu! I can't."

His voice was so thick and choked up with emotion that you felt yourself forming tears, but you quickly blinked them away without Hinata seeing. "You're not going to lose me," you said softly, spreading your hands in an act of sincerity. "I told you, I'm not going anywhere. None of us are. We're all here for you, just as we've always been."

"They're trying to take you away from me."

You took a shaky breath through your nose and released it through clenched teeth, trying to keep yourself composed, patient. "That's not true, Hinata. We're all grieving, we're all struggling to understand why all of this has happened, and the worst thing we can do right now is drive a wedge between everyone. It's times like these when we need each other the most."

Hinata's eyes glazed suddenly, flashed with a strange metallic glint like a bronze coin shining as it sunk to the bottom of a fountain, and then he started crying. You'd seen Hinata cry before, in mourning, in grief, but not like this. There was a rawness to the action, as if he was exposing some concealed vulnerability that nobody had seen in him before. You'd seen him upset, but this went beyond that, this was broken, completely and utterly torn to pieces, scrambling around in the dark for even a scrap of feeling amongst all the emptiness.

"Oh, Hinata," you whimpered, pulling the boy into your arms. He crumpled into them, his legs giving way so that you were forced to hold his weight as well as yours. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you, I just want to help you, I just want to get to the bottom of whatever this is and make it go away."

"I just don't want you to go, [F/N]," he whispered, his breath hot against your neck, making your skin flush and tingle. "I don't want you to go like Natsu did. I can't lose you when I love you too much."

A small mumble of surprise passed between your lips like a whistled breath, but you quickly assured yourself that he didn't mean it like that. "O-of course, Hinata, I love you too. You're my best friend-"